One Queen, Two Queen Red Queen, Blue Queen
by Lynn Osburn
Summary: A hidden past and unanswered questions leave two young sisters wondering...just what happened thirty years ago and how much blood does their family have on their hands?


Episode One: Two Ladies

Episode One: Two Ladies

"Sera!"

The sound of a young girls laughter and bare feet running on the wet grass of early morning. The sun peeked over the tall stone and barbed wire fences of the compound, casting a shadow over the rose and lilac bushes lining the forbidding structure. Somewhere in the trees a bird fluttered, taking it's flock with it. Serafina watched them pass over the wires and into the outside world.

She smiled, her face much like her mothers. Radiant in happiness, frightening in displeasure. "Come on Dessy!" she called out in a loud voice, excited beyond the means to contain herself. She watched as the figure of her sister ran to catch up, cloaked in the blood reds and bright oranges of dawn. "Your so slow Dessy." She teased and began looking for the tallest tree.

"We shouldn't be here." Desdemona scolded, looking around the commons. It was bare at this time, only a single guard patrolling the western wall. The camera positioned at every wall weren't panning the ground in their usual manner.

Someone had disabled them.

"We really should go back Sera." Dessy insisted, tugging on the hem of her sisters skirt. "Sera!" she whispered a little louder. "Sera if David finds us out here trying again …after he told us…"

"Don't be such a scardy cat." Serafina giggled and grabbed hold of the lowest branch. "He just scolded us 'cause that's what adults are supposed to do to kids." She shrugged her shoulders and tossed her wavy black hair over her shoulder. Both girls had lush thick waves, but when the light hit it just right a highlight of brown could be seen. They were identical in almost every way, from their adorably plump lips to their slender young frames. Only one difference made the twins discernable.

Serafina had copper brown eyes. Desdemona's were blue.

"Come on!" Sera prompted her sister as she reached the first branch. She sat down and extended her hand, offering her a leg up. "Come on!"

Dessy paused, chewing her bottom lip, a nervous habit. "I…don't know…"

Sera rolled her pretty brown eyes. "Fine. I'm going." She stood up and reached up for another branch, disappearing into the foliage.

"Sera…Sera!" Her twin scrambled for the branch and placed her feet against the trunk. The slipper she wore were too soft and didn't grasp well enough to get a foot hold. She fell, leaving a large grass stain on her skirt. "Sera don't leave me behind." She pulled her shoes off quickly and managed to get herself up to the first branch.

"I'm not leaving you silly."

"Where are you?" Dessy called out and stopped. She couldn't see her sister in the dark shadows of the tree.

A simple answer followed. "I'm out."

Dessy pushed herself up and out over the barbed wire poking through the leaves. She could see Sera, standing at the base of the hill, looking out into the field. Dessy grabbed hold of the end of the branch, swinging under it for a moment before dropping to the soft grass bellow.

"Isn't it beautiful." Sera whispered, her dark amber eyes looking out across the valley. Indeed, it was a place worthy of dreams. The snow capped peaks in the distance gave the valley a secluded feel, the grass grown so tall it brushed against the girl's thighs. The flowers of early spring had just come about, waving in the crisp air. A stream cut through the landscape, little fish darting from between rocks.

"You've seen it all before, from our bedroom balcony." Dessy pointed up to one of the towers, a large Victorian window lead out to a parapet. From there everything they could see now was clearly visible, but…

"It's different now. More real. Don't you feel it Dessy?" She laughed and spread her arms out spinning round and round until she became so dizzy she fell back. "The sky is bluer outside the walls. Don't you think so Dessy?"

"It is…pretty." She admitted and plucked up a common dandelion. It was so different from the trimmed and hedges flowers in the compound. Joel always had the gardeners keep everything perfect. There was never a dead or imperfect rose in the bushes. The trees and fish ponds always sparkled artistically and the girls had fresh bouquets in their rooms every morning.

Dessy blew on the dandelion and watched with amazement as the little seeds detached from their base and took off, floating in the breeze. She smiled, running down the hill to catch up with Serafina. One of the seeds landed in her sisters' hair and she brushed it off.

Sera grabbed hold of her hand. "Come on." She took off running, the wet dirt squishing between her toes.

That day flew by. Dessy gathered flowers and weeds, taking the red ribbon from her hair to tie them together. "Look sister." She said and showed them off to Serafina.

"Shuush." She answered back, not looking up from the river water.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to catch a fish." Sera lunged forward, her hands clasping for a split second on a slipper scale. She might have caught it, but was so surprised at the feeling she released and the fish went down stream.

"You can't do it that way." Dessy insisted, sitting down to make a flower crown from daisies.

"Yes you can. I saw it on National Geographic." She bent over, hitching her skirt high up around her hips. Sera crouched down, putting her hands under water and began to whisper. "It's all about being calm…making sure the fish thinks your just tree roots or fallen branches in the river path."

"How are you supposed to be a tree branch?" Dessy criticized. "You won't stay still long enough for piano lessons, how can you stay still long enough to catch a…"

"Fish!" Sera exclaimed, her hands clasping fast around the shining scales of a river trout. This time she held on, bringing the wriggling creature up from the rocks and water. "I got it Dessy! I got it!" she turning, smiling brightly to her sister. "Here, hold out your skirt and we'll…"

"Sera…" She turned to where Serafina was looking and took a step back. A tall man, perhaps in his late sixties stood there, watching the twins enjoy their day. He wore a business suit, the kind that the American secret service men had when they escorted the president out in public. His hands were cross in front of his and he looked down at the girls with a stern disposition.

"Uncle David."

The elder man sighed slightly, as if very exasperated and jerked his head back to the compound. Dessy blushed bright red and straightened her skirt, dusting off the grass stains and rushing past to get back inside the gates. David watched her go by, shaking his head a little at the stains covering her clothing.

But when he turned back, Serafina was looking at him defiantly. Her pretty lips were pursed, pouting even and she took her time wading out of the river. She laid the fish down on the banks and untied her dress, putting the fish in the folds and walking with great forced dignity up to David. In one hand she held up her skirt, keeping her prize safe. In the other, Dessy's ribboned flowers. As she approached her uncle she looked straight at him. "I'm keeping the fish." She said firmly, inviting a debate.

David was not so easily riled. "Did anyone say you couldn't?"

Serafina humped and put her pert nose in the air, but just as quickly the spoiled face turned into a bright smile. "I'm going to give it to the chief to cook tonight! You'll eat it won't you uncle David? Even if you're mad at me?" She connived, her charming demeanor making the sun shine all the brighter.

"You shouldn't have been outside girls." Said the blond woman who sat drinking her tea. Julia had aged with all the grace in the world. Her honey locks now only grayed in delicate streaks around her lovely face.

"Sorry Aunt Jul…"

"But it was so wonderful!" Serafina interrupted her sister, lifting up the bouquet. Not a flower in it was bred or fit for a shop, weeds and simple growth all. "Dessy picked this for you Auntie Julie." She presented it to her and the two looked over at Dessy who sat hiding behind a cup of milk.

"Is that true Dessy?" Julie asked gently. The girl nodded, still pretending to be absorbed in the milk. "That was very thoughtful of you…" she caught the satisfied smile on Sera's face. "…but flowers don't giver you an excuse for going against what you were told." She amended strictly.

Sera frowned and sat down on her sisters left side, reaching for the bacon.

Julie smiled at the familiarity of it. The girls ate like horses and never gained an ounce. Together their plates held six eggs, five pieces of toast, eight strips of bacon, two bowel of cereal, some bananas and oranges. It was a breakfast worthy of…

"Is Uncle David mad at us?" Dessy asked softly after her toast had been used to swipe up the last runny bit of yolk.

"Only a little. He's more worried than mad."

"Why would he be worried?" Sera said. "We're miles away from the nearest city, and not even campers come out here cause Joel bought up everything." She put two more strips of bacon and another egg between the toast and bit down hungrily, squirting the grease and yolk ever her plate.

"Sera!" Julie said and handed her a napkin.

"Sorry." She wiped her mouth and ate a little slower. "I'm just so excited from this morning!"

"Well than…" said Julie with a small smile on her face. "I suppose to save the state of your blouse I'd better not tell you about our surprise." The words had exactly the effect she expected on the girls. They were at her in a heartbeat, demanding answers, wanting to know how the adults who had cared for them all their lives were going to spoil them next. "Hold still the both of you." Julie said fondly. "I promised David I wouldn't say anything yet."

"Ah! That's not fair why did you even tease us if you had no intention of telling!" Sera pouted and took another vicious bite out of her sandwich.

"Is Alex coming for a visit?" Dessy asked quickly.

Julie shook her head. "No I'm afraid he's busy in America right now." Alexander, the son between herself and David, had grown up around the girls and later become a cultural attaché in association with the Japanese _tashikan_.

He also provided Red Shield with useful information regarding international chiropteran activity.

"Is it Papa Kai?" Dessy was persistent, moving to the next person they hadn't seen in a while. Kai was usually there everyday, but financial trouble with the Omoro had called him back to Okinawa for the past week to try and get everything straight. Joel had offered to pay off any kind of debt trouble, but even in his middle years Kai was very independent. He refused to accept any money, wanting to keep his fathers bar on his own abilities.

"Well we did receive a call from him. Kai should be coming back next week."

"That's good news, but still not the secret." The brown eyed twin said shrewdly. "Come on Auntie Julie, we won't tell! You know we won't."

Julie smiled at them. "You'll find out soon enough. Now wash your plates and get to lessons. Joel wants to see you both this afternoon."

"I think it's dangerous." David said frankly, refusing the scotch and crossing his arms in a masculine gesture. "We've agreed already, it's too dangerous to release them into the outside world."

"I wouldn't exactly call this releasing them David." Joel said, moving his wheelchair out towards the window. "They will be under constant guard and supervision, not out of Red Shield's eyesight for even a moment."

"Like they were today." Technically Joel was his superior. It was not in David's nature to question orders, but that was the privilege of being old friends. Joel had not brought up the subject as an order, but rather asked his opinion on the whole idea. "Those girls are clever. They will find a way to get out sooner or later and…"

"All the more reason to show them they don't have to." Joel spoke. "We've kept them here for nearly seventeen years, ever since they began to show the need for human blood as sustenance. But they remember the world outside these walls David. For Serafina especially, being confined only gives her a better reason to escape. Their not prisoners David, or have we decided to see them that way?"

"I'm not so cold." He said in stoic tones. "They are like daughters to myself and Julia. I can't forget that, but I also haven't forgotten…" his tone became darker, less sure. "…what they are capable of. I do not believe the girls would intentionally go down the same path as their mother, but the mere fact that they could does make me hesitant to bring them too close to a crowded city. From a military standpoint this is how I look at it. Any number of things could go wrong."

"Nathan has been sighted again." Joel said, considering David's words. They had lost trace of Diva's last remaining chevalier after the bombing of the Metropolitan Opera House, assumed him dead according to Saya's report. But the reason for removing the twins from Kai's care was not based solely on their need for blood transfusions.

On the twins tenth birthday, there had been a large and fairy well publicized chiropteran attack in the Australian news. Images traveled quickly via internet and cable. Certain things were made perfectly clear thanks to HDTV. In the middle of a crowd, everyone running and screaming with blood and mud streaked on their faces, one man stood perfectly still. His face was clean and smiling, his hair was blond and his lips were curved in a taunting smile. While others ran for cover, away from the claws reaching out behind them, Nathan stood flagrantly in the middle of it all, staring right at the camera.

There had been subsequent entries in that area. Never more than once or twice a year. Never in the center of attention. Just little notices, always in something the members of the Red Shield were likely to pay attention to. The fact that he was so blatant about it made them uncomfortable.

"Where was he this time?" David asked and Joel showed him a newspaper. He was not terribly shocked to see Nathan sitting at one of the popular hotspots right now in Tokyo, just barely in frame sipping on a cup of tea. "I see. We're not talking about letting them walk about in Japan are we?"

"We still have our headquarters in France available to us, Venice is an option as well or Prague."

"Is San Paolo operation yet?"

"Yes but the security there isn't as good as I'd like it, both for their protection and ours." The benefactor for Red Shield hummed, looking out from his window. "It's obvious he knows where we are, if not the exact location than the general area."

"If that true than why is he avoiding confrontation? Why not just come for Desdemona and Serafina?" David was a fairly straight forward person. He knew his job and did it on par. So it bothered him to be toyed with on this level. "He knows that without Saya or Haji we don't stand much of a chance against him."

"We can guess but until Nathan makes it apparent we won't know." Joel interlaced his fingers in front of his face, looking at the man who had stood beside him both as friend and compatriot. "It's been almost thirty years David. If we move now, than even if Nathan is planning something we can't avoid, we may only have to hold out a little longer."

The aging man frowned. "I see. I had hoped…to let her…"

Joel smiled. "We've confirmed that Haji is in Okinawa. We've given him some information regarding this decision, just to keep him and by proxy Saya informed. When we move I'll send another message telling him when we've settled." He looked up at David a little sadly. "I wish we didn't have to involve her David, I had hoped the girls could be used as the next line of defense but…"

"We've gotten attached to then. Julia sees the girls as the daughters she never had and Kai would loose his mind if we endangered them."

"And what about you David?"

No comment returned. "Where are they now?"

"Probably just getting our of music lessons. I told Julia to let them know I would be down for dinner tonight."

"Well than we need to pick a location and start transferring assets. If we hurry we can be gone before the weekend is out. I can inform Kai by phone and give him an e-ticket to meet us there."

"I'll leave the security preparations up to you David. I'll take up donations from the staff to ensure we have a supply for the trip and until we can get situated."

The young man paused for a moment, noticing that his guests eyes were trained on something across the street. Out of natural curiosity he glanced in the same direction but couldn't see what might be so important. Shrugging, the waiter turned to walk away.

"Hey."

The waiter started and turned back around. "Yes sir, what can I do for you…ah."

The blond haired man smiled genially, holding up a card with the same of an opera house on the front and the room of a local hotel on the back. "You can meet me here tonight." The guests said and put the card into the waiters front middle pocket. He pretended to ignore as the young man blushed and mumbled something about not being able to accept invitations from customers.

It didn't matter to Nathan. If the waiter didn't come there were others. His pinkie traced the rim of the cup, picking up the traces of sugar from the edge and sucking on his nail to taste it. "Hello there." He growled out in a predatory fashion, his eyes finally catching what they were looking for.

Across the street was a tall, pale man carrying a decorative cello case. He was looking in various food shops along the way as if trying to pick something out. Nelson smiled. That had to be a cumbersome task for a chevalier, picking out food you yourself have no need to eat. But it did confirm something in Nathan's mind.

"Well now Haji, if your stocking up the pantry then _someone_ must be there to eat it all." He chuckled and took a long sip from his cup of tea. "The question is do I follow you now and risk being caught or hold on and wait until I know for sure." He set the cup down and cross his legs, letting one foot tap out the tune on the speakers. Haji had walked into one of the stores and was now picking up and setting down different kinds of rice.

"You're so adorable." Nathan whispered. "Such a pity all that devotion is wasted on her. I wonder does she remember yet what your last words to her were thirty years ago? If so has she responded or left you wondering? Such folly…such glorious folly Haji."

Whatever it was Haji had been looking for he appeared to have found. He walked up to the counter and purchased a bag of rice along with various meats and vegetables. It looked so strangely out of place, stoic Haji standing there with that ridicules cello case and arms full of groceries that Nathan had to laugh.

Just as Haji disappeared around the corner Nathan tensed, his eyes shifted out of focus for a brief second and his fingers coiled on the cotton linins. A dog on the street corner stopped, sniffing the air as it turned in it's leash, then laying it's ears back against its skull, shrinking away from the odd man now sitting straight up in his chair with wide eyes.

"Yes." Nathan said as if answering a direct question. "Yes. Just now. Yes." He stood suddenly and laid twice what the bill was on the table.

Haji walked down a side street, keeping to the shadows and out of the way of the humans around him. He never quite seemed to walk in the same world with these common folk. He did not touch them, not even his massive cello case bumped into one by accident. The tall dark man maneuvered in and out of a crowd as if no one walked the street but himself.

Unfortunately, it made him easy to follow.

Nathan kept a minimum distance between them, tossing back his curly blond hair. "Now where are we headed off to Haji? Back to the lovely miss Saya no doubt." He chuckled. It was, all in all, nice to see such traditional devotion again. The kind that was supposed to exist between a queen and her chevalier. It was a pity things had ended the way they did. Nathan had kept the MP3, even re-bought the album when it was released in the newest format. But still…

Could any recording ever compare to the haunting tune of Diva's song?

Haji turned down the next street and Nathan hurried after him. His pace was neither fast nor languid. He seemed to move with efficiency but not as though he had to hurry back. _Perhaps Saya hasn't truly awakened yet. It's getting very close though, she may even be drifting in and out of sleep. _He hoped so. It would make things all the easier of she was weakened for a few weeks.

Queens did not simply jerk back into the world when their time came. With Diva it could take days or weeks depending on how much blood she was getting and how taxing the journey was. No doubt Haji was keeping her in the lap of luxury and feeding her well, but from what he could discern the queen had a certain reluctance to feed from her dashing knight.

Not wise considering her previous moon lighting employment.

_If she can just stay incapacitated for a week or so._ He had allowed himself to be snapped by a Tokyo paper, not one of the major rags, after a brutal chiropteran attack in the cities subway system. By now the Red Shield would have seen that and chosen to move on it without their trump card and her destructive blood.

Soon, they would move with the twins.

A flash of movement and Nelson relaxed against Haji's arms. The loyal chevaliers stiletto blade dug into his neck and Haji's black curls brushed his shoulder. Nathan smiled easily, pressing a shocked set of perfectly manicured fingers to his chest and gasped. "Oh…hello there Haji…"


End file.
